John chisiiolm francis



(No Model.)

J. C. FRANCIS. COMBINED ANNUNGIATOR AND TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

No. 447,768. Patented Mar. 1o, 1891.

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UNITED STATES yPATENT FFICE.

JOI-IN OI'IISI'IOLM FRANCIS, OF NE\V YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO ELIAS M.'

' GREENE, OF SAME PLACE. I

COMBINED ANNUNCIATOR AND TELEPHONE SYSTEM.

SEECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 447,768, dated March 10, 1891.

Application led November 5, 1889. Serial No. 829,293. (No model.)

T0 all whom it may concern.:

Beit known that I, JOHN CHIsHoLM FRAN- CIS, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, residing at New York, in the county and State of New York, have invented certain new and Useful Improvements in a Combined Annunciator and Telephone System, of which the following is a specilication.

The object of my invention is to provide a combined annunciator and telephone system for use in hotels and other similar places in such a manner that the ordinary annuncia tor wires or circuits can be used without an expensive change to enable telephonic communication to be held between the office and the various rooms or apartments connected therewith.

My invention consists in the combination and arrangement of the telephone-instru- Inents with the instruments and circuits of the annunciator system, and inthe specific arrangement of devices whereby this may be carried out, as more fully explained hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a diagrammatic representation of the connections between the ot'lice and one apartment, and the arrangement of the apparatus necessary to complete the telephonic and annunciator connection. Fig. 2 is a similar representation of a slightly-modified arrangement of circuits, and Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a circuit breaking telephone connection which I prefer to make use of. Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of the telephone D.

In the drawings, M represents a main battery, which is shown supplying a single annunciator and telephone circuit; but which,

of course, can furnish energy to numerous circuits.

A represents a bell, and B an annunciator drop arranged in a circuit and located at the ot'iice or other central position.

C D are respectively transmitting and receiving telephone instruments, also arranged at the office.

E and F are respectively a transmitter and receiver arranged in one ot the rooms or apartments, and G is a push-button or other circuit-controller, also arranged in the apartment. The circuit from the battery passes through the wire l, thence by the wire 2 to the push-button, by the wire 3 to and including the annunciator and bell, and by the wire 4 to the binding-post 5 of the transmitter. The wire G connects the binding-post 7 of the transmitter to the other pole of the battery M.

Normally the telephones O and D are out of the main circuit including the bell and annunciator, and I prefer to accomplish this in a manner hereinafter described. In a shuntcircuit 8 around the push-button are arranged the transmitter and receiver E F, the shuntcircuit being normally open, as hereinafter explained. With this arrangement closing the circuit at the push-button G operates the bellA and the annunciator B at the office and gives notice that the occupant of the apartment desires to communicate with the office. In Fig. 2 the circuits are practically the same, except that instead of the main circuit normally passing from the bell to the telephone-instruments it goes through the frame, drop, spring contact-piece, and the coils of the annunciator, and thence through the bellmagnet and by the wire 9 to the battery, and the office telephones O D `are in a normallyopen branch circuit 10, connected to one pole ot' the battery and terminating in a bar II` common to all the annunciators, so that when any ann unciator-drop falls the circuit through the annunciator is broken, and the branch circuit l0, through the telephones C D, is closed by the annunciator-drops falling on the bar H, and the annunciator and bell are cut out of circuit and the telephone-instru ments O D are included in the main circuit.

In Fig. 3 I have shown a telephone-instrument of the construction I prefer to use in the apartment, consisting of an ordinary magneto-telephone having the coil I provided with a loop J, the terminals of which are in the form ot' springs K. Mounted in the end of the handle of the telephone is a hook L, the end ot which normally extends between the free ends of the springs K and closes the circuit through the telephone, being held in this position by a spring N surrounding the inner portion of the hook. IVhen, however, the hook is partially withdrawn, as by hanging the telephone upon the hook, the circuit is automatically broken at the terminals K, the

weight of the telephone overcoming the tension of the spring N. It will thus be seen that the telephone F in the apartment, being of the construction shown in Fig. 3, when hanging upon the hook e normally opens the circuit through the conductor S, so that uormally the circuit in the apartment is open both at the push-button and at the telephone- ,instruments Vhen, however, the telephone F is removed for the purpose of communicating with the oiiice, the circuit through the telephones E and F is automatically closed.

The telephone D at the oliice may be constructed like the telephone shown in Fig. 3 or not, but should be provided also withan unbroken electric connection through the handle and the hook L, and I have accomplished this by means ot the branch 1l, leading from the ordinary conductor 12, which includes the magnet-coil 13, and extending to and connected with the hook L, and the support O is connected electrically with the hinding-post 7. Thus constructed, it will be seen that normally the circuit from binding-post 5 includes the wire 12, the branch ll, the hook L, the support and binding-post 7, cutting out the coil of the magnet of the telephone D and the electrodes of the transmitter, so that the annunciator andbell circuit will not include this unnecessary resistance. Vhen, however, the telephone D is removed from its support O, this short circuit is broken and the telephones C D are included in the main in addition to the ordinary annunciator coinmunication by making use of the circuits of the annnnciator system, and the circuits are so arranged that the telepho11e-instruments do not interfere with the annunciator system, and when desired t-he ann unciator system may be removed from the circuits ofthe telephoneinstruments* .lVhat I claim as my invention isl. The combination, with an annnnciator system including the battery, a normally-open p usb-button in the apartment, an annunciator and bell at the central office, and a branch circuit from the battery including the telcphone-instruments, said branch circuit terminating in a bar, of telephone-instruments located in the apartment in a normally-open branch around the push button, whereby when the push-button is closed the bell and annunciator will be operated and the drop of the annunciator will automatically close the circuit through the telephones at the central oiiice and cut out the annunciator and bell, substantially as described.

2. A tclephone-instrumcnt the coil of which `is provided with a loop connected to springterminals having a spring-actuating hook normally closing the terminals and arranged toibrcak the circuit at the terminals when supporting the telephone, substantially as dcscribed.

3. The combination, with an annunciator system, of circuits, telephone-instruments in- 

